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ToyOtter.com

About Me, and Toys, and Things.

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

I’ve been online for a long, long time.

I was first introduced to the Internet in 1991 -it was cool enough just to be online and there was already a healthy USENET community, but once Mosaic showed that graphics + text = magic it didn’t take me long to realize that there was a decided lack of information regarding the toy industry. Having started toy collecting in college around the same time, I wanted to share the information about past toy lines and companies that took me so long to find out on my own. So I built my first few fan sites, and eventually co-founded Raving Toy Maniac, which immediately became the leader of all online toy coverage; we were the first website to cover Toy Fair, we were the first to run toy panels at San Diego Comic Con …we were even profiled on CNN! Although it led to a lot of contacts in the industry and real experience in running a multi-media site (to say nothing of being at the forefront of protoblogging), after a few years of keeping current a daily news site 24/7, I took my skills and knowledge and made the leap to the other side: actually designing toys.

My desk while designing toys

Since then I have designed toys & merchandise for many companies, from Lucasfilm and Wendy’s, to Pepsi and Disneyland. I really, really like creating actual physical things, but after a decade of non-stop work I was getting a bit burned out. So I switched gears and now create promotions and marketing for big corporations like Walmart, Hershey’s, 7-Eleven, and Bank of America. In 1995 I co-founded Action Figure Insider, which quickly became the leader in toy news online. But through it all I’ve kept up my presence here at ToyOtter.com. I stopped actively collecting some time ago but being here keeps me involved in the industry and aware of what is going on, something that has proved invaluable when dealing with fan properties in my marketing job. This site won’t be a blog but more an archive of articles old and new – my thoughts on toys, pop culture, and other things that pique my interest.

I love what I do. ToyOtter has given me a career, a reputation, and the opportunity to experience things most people never will, like living in a factory in China and attending Hollywood premieres with the stars. I’ve written articles for books and magazines, appeared on DVD extras, and been featured on NPR, CNN, Wired.com, Gizmodo, Fark, Geekologie, Digg, Boing-Boing, National Review Online, Cnet, G4, and the official Star Wars blog, among others. And through it all I’ve had very inconsistent facial hair (see above). I don’t know if any of this qualifies as “daring mighty things” …but it’s something.

In case it isn’t completely clear, everything on this site is strictly my opinion. It doesn’t reflect on any past or present employers, collaborators, etc. No harm is intended in anything contained on this site.

Finally, if you want to hear me spouting off about toys here is a video extra that was on the Super Friends DVD.

My name is Adam Springer, and I am currently trying to sell some Star Wars memorabilia and thought that this would be a great place to start. My father was associated in the making and funding of the short lived “Starbles” star wars memorabilia in the late 1990’s. The project never really took off, and with not many box sets in circulation today, it is extremely rare and a great collectors item. Below is an eBay link to another individuals box (i do not have pictures on my computer yet). However, since my father was involved in the making both sets of 12 that we have include a letter of authenticity from the owner himself.
I thought that i would ask you about your interest – or possibly if you would know anybody that would be remotely interested in these cool collectors items!

Thank you for your time!

“This original Star Wars Starbles Boxed Set, with the Lucasfilm Ltd. licence label, is very rare. You will have a hard time finding another like it!

Starbles are Star Wars marbles that were sold in vending machines at movie theatres in Southern Ontario in conjunction with the re-release of the “Special Editions” of the Star Wars trilogy in 1997.
However, they did not take off and were never released again.This makes them very rare, and in fact many Star Wars collectors have never heard of them. They made 12 different marbles as you can see in the photos. They’re quite big for marbles, at about 1.5? in diameter.”